Masked Men

At the end of the 2019-2020 Hockey Season the CoVID Quanitine Period slammed the door on all public activities, forcing everyone to shutter themselves in isolation from the world at large. Classes moved from the classroom to on-line or were cancelled completely. There was a large migration of students away from campus back to their (parents) homes, while debate/argument abounded about rebates for class credits and housing. Those who stayed usually had a leased living arrangement and were just as glad to stay put than go home and be under the scrutiny of their families. End of the school term eventually arrived without all the intervening Spring high-jinx so often associated with the end of there school year.

In the Fall of 2020 when the school year was back in session CoVID still had its grip on everything. Though students were allowed back to campus and some semblance of "regular" classroom education, the social aspect of campus life was still on partial lockdown. Gatherings of five or more people were not allowed, impacting sports teams by preventing full squad practices and being forced to wear "germ" masks during their workouts. There were no scheduled games, primarily this applied to the non-NCAA club level teams. There was great concern that this "interruption" of sports activity would spell the end of many competitive club sports, among them hockey. The previous year the SU Men's Hockey program had just celebrated 65 years of continuous play and had initiated it's Alumni Awards Program, then in the Spring as CoVID hit the team graduated eleven players, among them their best scorers and defenders. With no reason to recruit or there being any attraction to play hockey there was the real possibility of the club program collapsing.

Yet during this period under the leadership of Tim Kalinowski and MacKenzie Murphy - who had been a member of the 2018-2019 ESCHL Playoff Championship team - and assistant leaders prior to the CoVID shutdown, they found a way to keep the Men's club hockey program going even with all the barriers. They insured there was some sort of regular normalcy by staging regular small squad drills and scrimmages, they collaborated with the team historian to sponsor an online Alumni Awards Event, and at the end of the season dealt with the resignation, recruitment and hiring of new coaches. Tim and MacKenzie kept the doors ajar and lights dimly lit and the program on life support throughout the 2020-2021 school year, so when normalcy did return at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season the men's hockey program was in a position to continue on. Yes the team faced a long term rebuilding process, of having to recruit new talent, adjust to new coaches and systems and getting restarted their operations/communications unit (they had their own heroes in Bridget Essing, Jules DiCenso and Doug Lattuca who not only revived the unit but took it took the next level of professionalism). Much is owed to Tim Kalinowski and MacKenzie Murphy, two student-athletes with a passion for hockey and dedication to the SU Men's Hockey club guided it through these very dark, tempestuous times. They will go down in the annuals of the program's history as key figures in keeping SUMH alive, strong and evolving.